Eagles Show Grit in Season-Opening Loss to Classical
Despite 50-41 Defeat, ECS Demonstrates Fight and Improvement in Wichita
The Elyria Christian School Eagles girls basketball team opened their season with a hard-fought 50-41 loss to Wichita Classical on Monday evening, but head coach Greg Fields found plenty of reasons for optimism in his team's performance.
"It's never fun to start the season with a loss, but I was very pleased with the effort our girls played with tonight," Fields said after the game. "When we played Classical last January, they were up by 30 by the end of the third quarter, and they definitely have the athletes to do that again. Every time they built a lead our girls fought back and never gave up. That was my biggest takeaway from this game."
Senior Joy Pyle led the Eagles' effort with an impressive double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling down 10 rebounds (eight offensive). Grace Prescott added six points and dished out a team-high five assists while playing over 30 minutes.
The Eagles received significant contributions from their bench, particularly from freshmen Abigail Stone and Izzy Stucky. Stone finished with five points on 50 percent shooting, while Stucky also tallied six points on efficient 50 percent shooting from the field.
"Two freshmen stepped up and played like much older athletes tonight," Fields said. "Abigail Stone and Izzy Stucky provided quality minutes off the bench. Abigail was aggressive on defense and drove the ball several times under pressure where she created offense when we were struggling to score. Izzy was very strong around the basket getting key rebounds and providing more scoring threats in the paint."
Amelia Moody added eight points on 50 percent shooting, including a three-pointer, while Kami Noggle contributed solid defense with three steals and five deflections.
The loss comes as the Eagles face a challenging early-season schedule. "Our schedule gets even more difficult this week as we travel to Moundridge on Friday," Fields said. "We're looking forward to facing another high quality opponent!"
ECS EAGLES 41, WICHITA CLASSICAL 50
ECS (0-1): Pyle 11, Moody 8, Prescott 6, Stucky 6, Stone 5, Bower 5, Noggle 0.
Next Game: Friday at Moundridge
Greg Loving
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